Winemaker Notes
Garnet ruby red in color, the bouquet is intense and balanced, with notes of violet, red fruit, cherry and plum, spices, licorice, cocoa, leather and tobacco. Dry, robust, full-bodied, very persistent, rich and velvety.
This wine is excellent with pasta, perfect with red meat, game and absolutely ideal with all types of cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is so floral. It’s like smelling a huge bunch of roses. Then there’s fresh, ripe fruit with raspberry, strawberry, licorice and black truffle undertones. Full-bodied and very structured, with superb tannins that are broad and integrated already. Shows the ripeness of the vintage, but at the same time freshness. Big yet balanced. Excellent tannins give this tension and focus. More open than the superb 2015 and 2016. 30% whole bunch fermentation with natural yeast. Five years in a single Stockinger cask of 50 hectoliters. Two years in bottle before release.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Here we go. This bottle raises the bar for the Damilano family in what was a challenging vintage due to heat and dry growing conditions. The 2017 Barolo Riserva Cannubi 1752 is a limited release of 6,000 bottles. This wine shows purpose and character, and it gets it right despite the adverse growing conditions. It shows a darker color and concentration with medium-plus richness. I can get behind this wine thanks to its focus, elegance and muscle power. It does, however, need more time.
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Wine Spectator
Alluring aromas of cherry and rose give way to flavors of rosemary, oregano and tar in this dense yet elegant red. Bright yet chewy, with beefy tannins girding the finish. Fine length. Best from 2026 through 2042. 500 cases made, 100 cases imported.
Responsible for some of the most elegant and age-worthy wines in the world, Nebbiolo, named for the ubiquitous autumnal fog (called nebbia in Italian), is the star variety of northern Italy’s Piedmont region. Grown throughout the area, as well as in the neighboring Valle d’Aosta and Valtellina, it reaches its highest potential in the Piedmontese villages of Barolo, Barbaresco and Roero. Outside of Italy, growers are still very much in the experimentation stage but some success has been achieved in parts of California. Somm Secret—If you’re new to Nebbiolo, start with a charming, wallet-friendly, early-drinking Langhe Nebbiolo or Nebbiolo d'Alba.
The center of the production of the world’s most exclusive and age-worthy red wines made from Nebbiolo, the Barolo wine region includes five core townships: La Morra, Monforte d’Alba, Serralunga d’Alba, Castiglione Falletto and the Barolo village itself, as well as a few outlying villages. The landscape of Barolo, characterized by prominent and castle-topped hills, is full of history and romance centered on the Nebbiolo grape. Its wines, with the signature “tar and roses” aromas, have a deceptively light garnet color but full presence on the palate and plenty of tannins and acidity. In a well-made Barolo wine, one can expect to find complexity and good evolution with notes of, for example, strawberry, cherry, plum, leather, truffle, anise, fresh and dried herbs, tobacco and violets.
There are two predominant soil types here, which distinguish Barolo from the lesser surrounding areas. Compact and fertile Tortonian sandy marls define the vineyards farthest west and at higher elevations. Typically the Barolo wines coming from this side, from La Morra and Barolo, can be approachable relatively early on in their evolution and represent the “feminine” side of Barolo, often closer in style to Barbaresco with elegant perfume and fresh fruit.
On the eastern side of the Barolo wine region, Helvetian soils of compressed sandstone and chalks are less fertile, producing wines with intense body, power and structured tannins. This more “masculine” style comes from Monforte d’Alba and Serralunga d’Alba. The township of Castiglione Falletto covers a spine with both soil types.
The best Barolo wines need 10-15 years before they are ready to drink, and can further age for several decades.